Reeves-Reed Arboretum and Wilshire Grand Hotel Wedding

July 24, 2022

Reeves-Reed Arboretum and The Wilshire Grand Hotel Wedding in June. West Orange, NJ Summit, NJ

Three years after booking with us, Ilana and Alex FINALLY had their full blown wedding day at The Wilshire Grand Hotel in West Orange, NJ last June of 2022.

So here’s the timeline. Our good friend and wonderful planner Danielle Aspromatis of D’Luxe Planning referred us and they booked with us early February in 2019. A few months later, in May 2019, we met up with them for their engagement session around Old City Philadelphia, a meaningful place for them before they moved on to live in Washington D.C. I think everyone knows what happens next. By 2020, the world shut down and the wedding was postponed. They were officially married in D.C. and held a backyard ceremony on 5/24/20. We were honored they invited us to witness and be a part of the Zoom ceremony.

Alex & Ilana’s Zoom Ceremony

The Big Day Finally Arrives

Fast forward – to play it safe, they proceeded to postpone the bigger wedding all the way until 2022. And here we are, finally sharing that day! Ilana & Alex’s wedding part II at The Wilshire Grand Hotel! The couple got ready onsite and then we road over to the nearby beautiful and lush Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit, NJ for their first look and portraits. We were so honored to finally be a part of their wedding day!

The Details

The bride’s dress was Pronovias from I Do… I Do…, the bridesmaid dresses were mismatched from Azazie, Bill Levkoff, and BHLDN.
The groom’s suit was Giorgio Armani.

The Vision

“‘Simple elegance.’ We booked the Wilshire mostly because of the convenience of having in-house Kosher catering and the attached hotel. We are hoping to have our ceremony outdoors in the gardens, which have been recently renovated. There is also a brand new outdoor terrace with a succulent plant wall, which we LOVE. We plan to sign the Ketubah on the new terrace in front of the distressed wood. The reception is in the ballroom, but we will have a greenery wall for the photobooth and some twinkle lights installed on the ceiling. We are going with a neutral palette – some soft greys, greens, and off-whites. The groomsmen are in navy suits and bridesmaids are wearing different shades of silvers and greys (mismatched). The cocktail hour will also (hopefully!) be outside. The bridesmaids dresses will be a very soft light grey and the bouquets will have lots of greenery and white flowers. We ideally would like as much of the day outdoors as possible.”

We also loved the noteworthy special touches such as their Grandfather’s Kiddush cups used at ceremony.

Another really compelling piece of this story is that Ilana was adopted and reconnected with her biological mother and her family in 2010. They had Ilana’s biological mother walk down the aisle with her husband before Ilana walked with her parents. It was extremely touching.

The evening ended at Wilshire Grand Hotel with a joyous Hora and, of course, the couple was thrown up on the chairs. We were SO happy that these two could finally share their wedding day safely with friends and family!! Mazel Tov!

Reeves-Reed Arboretum and The Wilshire Grand Hotel Wedding in June. West Orange, NJ Summit, NJ